Another day, another relatively unknown custom. This one comes straight from the pages of the September, 1952 issue of Hop Up Magazine. Gene Ferguson was the owner, but the car was built by Montrose Body Shop. I had never heard of the shop and did a ... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
The profile picture is awesome. It looks like it is lunging off the line just sitting there. The Continental kit and chrome fender welt wonderfull. The running board treatment excellent. The dash doesn't fit :-(. But overall a real nice mild custom. I wonder what was under the hood?
I dig it!! I'm not a fan of continental kits either but I wouldn't kick this out of the shop for leaking oil!! I agree with Silverdome that the dash doesn't fit but again....the whole thing is too cool to care. I NEED a '36!!! Someday......
Interesting that they went with a GM style grill. I know it is not really a GM grill, but a custom one done in the style of an early 40s chevy/pontiac, which I always thought to be an odd stage in their design - where they were sort of stuck in the middle between when grills changed from being vertical (30s) to horizontal (later 40s and beyond). Like the designer couldn't quite work out how to transition between the two styles. But you would think that by the early 50s when this custom was built, that the odd time period of that style grill would hardly be trendy. But then again,,,Jimmy Summers did one sort of similar that worked out well enough. So maybe this guy was inspired by that car.
Nice car and thank God for that beautiful color shot. I had no idea they had chrome fender welts way back then. I am going to use them on my 51 AD now.
Great chop, ride slightly higher in front, even the Continental Kit balances well. Stance might not be athletic but it sure is menacing.
OK, I will come out and say it, why would anybody even think of swapping out a '36 Ford grill for something else? Love the Customs just not a fan of most if not all un '36 grills in a '36. JMO
Ryan, do you have any articles on modifiying running boards and "bobbing" fenders? I want to do it to my 1939 Ford deluxe coupe.Love the HAMB, I need to become a paying member......
I've never "got" the Continental kit,which is probably from years of going to the car show at the Pavillions in Scottsdale and seeing the sea of kits on all of those 57 Chevys from Minnesota and Wisconsin that the owners say are original That being said,the kit works on this car and I love the stance.I'm even warming up to the instrument cluster.
So why is every rear mount spare now a "Continental Kit"? This is one of those things that just wears me out a bit. Like antifreeze, now it's "radiator fluid"? I'm guessing the spare tire cover came off of a Continental but that spare was back there already, wasn't it? Does a Model A coupe with a rear spare actually have a Continental kit? Deeper on topic, the car has a pretty kool vibe goin on but I'm on the fence about the grille. It may look better in person but doesn't photograph very well. I can like for the workmanship but not truly the result. LaSalle and Packard Clipper grilles work since they have the height to pull it off. Still hard to beat Henry's grille on a 36. Or was it Edsel's grille? Shit, the Continental was his idea too. Are we seeing Edsel's vision in advance? Sorry man, I had to...
That grille is amazing, if you consider the shape intersection it's completing- it's kind of like the Dick Flint track nose grille on a custom... And geez, someone always says the stock grille is prettier... well... I know anything goes now, but it's a custom car and that's one of the first things that's changed on a custom. If you put any stock in silly things that people of another generation used to do... I sure do-
It had been a while since I'd seen that car, but used the grille idea on this '36 5W I did for this T-shirt last year-
It seems that the car's design theme was half custom, half rod. I see rod influences in the ride height, champion dash, trackish grill, etc. Rich
I really like this car. The SW Hollywood dash looks good to me, and the spare tire doesnt offend either. All around a good flowing, but practical custom. You know this thing was driven daily, maybe his city had rough roads, hence the high stance (which I personally dig)
Brought that .20 cent HOP-UP issue when I was 13, my week's allowance was likely some 50 cents, was very impressed with that '36. Thought it showed some outstanding creativeity. As to the stock vertical grille, by 52' the newer cars were getting longer, lower and wider.and the use of the horizontal grille bars gave the older models the newer car look. Case in point the difference between a 40' DeLuxe horizontal grille and the taller upright look of the 40' std... Does anyone think that the A-pillers were layed back on the Ferguson 36', sure looks like it in the profile and color shots? If they were that would be unusual for the early 50's...dyno dave
"why would anybody even think of swapping out a '36 Ford grill for something else?" I agree that the 36 grille was one of the prettiest Ford grilles made. But being someone's dream, custom build and ideas this comment pretty much nails it. 'Because it was 1952, and a '36 Ford was just an outdated old car in its stock form."
Yes, I agree. No way has this car got a continental kit. The spare wheel is still in its stock position. Its just been cleaned up with a dropped and layed back mount and later cover. I had that same side profile shot hanging on the wall when I built mine. The stance is perfect.
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